The temperature reached 86 F today here in Nederland easily making this one of the hottest days of this summer. The large, hot, and generally dry ridge of high pressure parked over Colorado on Sunday will remain pretty much in the same place on Labor Day bringing another day of high temps in the mid 80s F across the Front Range Foothills. Some relief from the heat arrives (you guessed it) on Tuesday just in time for us to go back to work. A cold front will sag southward across Colorado Tuesday morning, and temperatures for the balance of the day will be in the 65 – 70 F range. As the hot ridge slowly moves to our south and east this week, moisture will begin to wrap around it into the Central and Southern Rockies. This increase in moisture will bring more cloudiness, and with those clouds will come a better chance of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms.
The 1 to 5 day quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) from the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center (WPC) shows this trend towards wetter and cooler weather in Nederland:
Any moisture will be welcome as the forests and grasses around our beloved Foothills communities have become very dry. Mountain folks are collectively holding their breath as fire danger is about as high as it has been all year.
In September, our temperatures normally start the downhill slide towards winter. It is subtle at first, but by the end of the month, autumn is definitely in the air. This table shows our average daily high and low temperatures for each day in September. This is only based on 9-10 years of observations, so these data are a bit “choppy”:
| Month | Day | High | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | 74 | 49 |
| 9 | 2 | 75 | 49 |
| 9 | 3 | 73 | 48 |
| 9 | 4 | 74 | 47 |
| 9 | 5 | 70 | 46 |
| 9 | 6 | 69 | 45 |
| 9 | 7 | 66 | 43 |
| 9 | 8 | 72 | 45 |
| 9 | 9 | 72 | 45 |
| 9 | 10 | 70 | 45 |
| 9 | 11 | 68 | 44 |
| 9 | 12 | 65 | 44 |
| 9 | 13 | 68 | 45 |
| 9 | 14 | 69 | 44 |
| 9 | 15 | 66 | 44 |
| 9 | 16 | 68 | 43 |
| 9 | 17 | 68 | 44 |
| 9 | 18 | 72 | 43 |
| 9 | 19 | 72 | 45 |
| 9 | 20 | 68 | 43 |
| 9 | 21 | 67 | 41 |
| 9 | 22 | 68 | 42 |
| 9 | 23 | 65 | 43 |
| 9 | 24 | 64 | 44 |
| 9 | 25 | 63 | 41 |
| 9 | 26 | 65 | 40 |
| 9 | 27 | 64 | 42 |
| 9 | 28 | 62 | 40 |
| 9 | 29 | 64 | 40 |
| 9 | 30 | 63 | 41 |
The big take away from this table is that September is usually a comfortable month temperature-wise. It is not as hot as July and August, but there are still plenty of days which are just perfect for hiking and biking or just hanging out on your deck. However, snow and cold are not that far off. Enjoy these days while you can.